Counter-Baiting the Haters

Grateful to Benedict Brogan, deputy editor of The Daily Telegraph, for publicising the Ban Blair Baiting petition, and for attributing its inauguration to me. In fact, that accolade belongs to Stan Rosenthal, who also placed a half-page advert for the campaign in the New Statesman this week.

Brogan notes that the latest Iraq Inquiry hearings have set off another rash of Blair-hating, and asks whether We Happy Few (including Blair Supporter) have a point:

Presumably, a time will come when the vilification of Mr Blair will have run its course, and a more objective assessment of his premiership will be possible. At the Chilcot inquiry, he made a compelling case for the threat posed by Iran, but too few were prepared to listen. A bit like Peter Mandelson, his rehabilitation depends on Labour embracing him once again, something his party shows no sign of wanting to do. He is still a cause of embarrasment for his successors, perhaps because in their hearts they suspect they might have stood a better chance last May if they had stuck with him.

I suspect that most people in the Labour Party understand this. They voted for David Miliband for leader, after all; his brother won in what one insider described as “a Brownite coup dressed up as an Obama insurgency”.

The question is how long it will be before the LBLM&C (London-Based Liberal Media and Culturati) come to a more balanced view. In their constant search for someone new to betray them, they have already started to move off Tony Blair and onto Nick Clegg, but I doubt if they will ever be reconciled to the most successful left-wing prime minister.

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